The following is Part I of Lisa Murphy's (7th grade Catechist ) book review of My Life with the Saints.
I went into Fr Martin’s book, My Life with the Saints, at best, not knowing who saints were (besides Mother Teresa and a few others well-known) and at worst, seeing praying to them as a form of idolatry. I learned about the selected saints’ lives and was inspired and awed to know I have walked the earth in the same years as more modern saints, like Dorothy Day. Most importantly, I grasped the humanity of these holy lives.
Saints are a beacon for understanding how to balance the worldly life of someone who is most certainly not God (ie Jesus walking the earth) while living to the high purpose for which He has called us. These saints certainly fell short and sinned in their human kindness, yet they also glorified God, delighted in His presence and showed His face to others. They allowed themselves the boldness to pick up their crosses and follow God as Jesus invited His disciples to do, in imperfect humanness, not in holy mysticism. The saints in their whole hearted (and I think sometimes surprising to themselves) love for Jesus, did what God told them to do only because He said so even though it seemed a bit crazy to follow His instruction. Because they chose to serve Him, they got to be with Him. This is simple, yet incredibly difficult to do.
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